Workout wild man

I recently interviewed two Florida football players on separate occasions and ended the question-and-answer sessions asking each player who the biggest workout warrior has been in the weight room this offseason.

Neither hesitated.

“Taven Bryan,” wide receiver Josh Hammond said.

“Taven, that’s a dog,” linebacker Kylan Johnson said.

So, obviously, the defensive tackle who is known as the Wyoming Wild Man on the football field is also somewhat of a maniac when it comes to pumping iron. The big defensive tackle just takes a more subtle approach to lifting weights than he does attacking opposing offensive fronts.

“He’s really quiet, so you don’t really hear him,” Hammond said. “He doesn’t make much noise, but if you just look and see the weight that’s on there and the amount of effort he’s putting out, he’ll lift some weight.”

Bryan is somewhat of a physical freak. He’s 6-foot-5, 293 pounds and runs like a linebacker. He’s also quick and a very strong young man. He has all the tools to be a dominant player. The knock on him has been that he lacks consistent effort. He dominates a play, then takes one off.

But the coaches have worked him hard to become more consistent — and the player he has a chance to be. He practiced and play with a much more consistent effort in the spring. In the weight room, he obviously isn’t taking any reps off. The impressive amount of weight he’s been lifting has caught everyone’s attention, according to Hammond and Johnson.

“He can move a mountain,” Hammond said.

“He’s a beast in that weight room,” Johnson said. “He really goes in there and takes it seriously. He lifts a lot of weight. He goes in there and does what he’s got to do and gets it done. He can be a wild man when he wants to be.”

Johnson is predicting a big breakout season in 2017 for the Wyoming Wild Man.

“He’s big and strong,” Johnson said. “He is real good. I think he’s going to come out and really show it this year.”